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UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

POST  OFFICES — CHAMPAIGN  AND  URBANA.) 


AN  ADDRESS 


AT 


Forefathers’  Convocation, 


SUNDAY,  DECEMBER  13,  1896. 


The  Pilgrim  and  His  Share  in  American  Life, 


PRESIDENT  DRAPER. 


GAZETTE  PRINT.  CHAMPAIGN.  ILL. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/addressatforefat00drap_0 


The  Pilgrim  and  His  Share  in  American  Life. 


“  Yea,  when  the  frowning-  bulwarks 
That  g-uard  this  hoi}'  strand 
Have  sunk  beneath  the  trampling-  surg-e 
In  beds  of  sparkling-  sand. 

While  in  the  waste  of  Ocean 
One  hoary  rock  shall  stand. 

Be  this  its  latest  leg-end:  — 

HERE,  WAS  THE  PILGRIM’S  LAND.” 

The  Pilgrim  literature  of  recent  years  has  been 
marked  by  a  discussion  of  the  question  whether  Eng¬ 
land  or  Holland  contributed  most  to  the  formation  of 
Pilgrim  character,  and  through  that  character  to  the 
institutional  life  of  the  New  World.  That  discussion  is 
a  fascinating  and  not  a  fruitless  one.  The  average 
citizen  finds  interest  in  it  though  he  still  refuses  to 
grant  that  there  is  much  question  about  it.  The  his¬ 
torical  student  enters  into  it  with  enthusiasm  and  sees 
some  new  light.  It  seems  strange,  indeed,  that  that 
discussion  has  been  so  long  delayed.  The  delay  indi¬ 
cates  how  long  it  takes  for  a  people  to  put  away  its 
desires  and  its  prejudices  and  study  history  with  an 
unbiased  disposition  to  elucidate  the  truth. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  out  of  this  discussion 
it  is  gradually  becoming  apparent  that  English  thought 
has  done  but  scant  justice  to  the  decided  impulses 
which  the  heroism  and  the  progress  of  the  people  of 
the  “Low  Countries”  contributed  at  the  very  beginning 
to  the  trend  and  tone  of  organized  society  in  America, 
and  that  some  part  of  this  contribution  came  by  the 
way  of  Cape  Cod,  even  if  the  greater  part  did  enter  by 
the  way  of  Sandy  Hook. 

We  will,  however,  avoid  being  drawn  into  that  dis¬ 
cussion  today.  We  will  go  back  to  “1620,”  that  talis- 
manic  date  in  the  life  of  the  Old  World  as  well  as  of  the 
New,  and  recount  the  simple  and  pathetic  story  which 
it  brings  up  to  us.  The  facts  which  are  neither  con¬ 
troverted  nor  involved  are  all-sufficient  for  us,  and  the 
honor  which  their  repetition  pays  to  the  plain  men  and 
women  who  made  that  date  great  in  human  history  is 


*=>  •? 


4 


but  a  slight  indication  of  the  feelings  which  come  to 
all  true  Americans  at  the  annual  recurrence  of  Fore¬ 
fathers’  Day. 

The  greater  part  of  the  eastern  Massachusetts  coast 
is  shaped  not  unlike  the  outer  rim  of  the  external 
human  ear.  From  Cape  Ann  at  the  north  and  front  of 
this  rim  to  Cape  Cod  at  the  south,  it  is  an  air-line  dis¬ 
tance  of  forty-five  miles.  Many  capacious  and  mag¬ 
nificent  harbors  lie  within  these  capes.  Boston  ex¬ 
tends  her  great,  strong  arms  nearly  around  Massachu¬ 
setts  Bay,  well  up  at  the  northern  part  of  the  large 
enclosure  of  the  ocean.  Plymouth,  the  oldest  of  New 
England  towns,  with  a  thrifty  and  cultured  population 
of  nine  thousand  people,  looks  out  to  the  eastward  upon 
Plymouth  Harbor  which  is  well  down  to  the  southwest¬ 
ern  part  of  the  enclosure.  From  Boston  to  Plymouth  it 
is  an  air-line  distance  of  thirty-seven  miles.  The  shore 
is  traversed  by  both  steam  and  electric  roads.  From 
Cape  Cod  to  Plymouth,  across  the  water,  it  is 
twenty-five  miles.  One  is  better  prepared  to  enter  into 
the  spirit  of  things  at  the  old  town  if  he  goes  down 
from  Boston  by  steamer,  or  enters  from  the  open  ocean, 
notes  the  contour  of  the  coast,  studies  the  settlements 
and  objects  upon  the  shore,  floats  over  the  wide  ex¬ 
panse  of  water  and  follows  the  path  which  the  May¬ 
flower  took  into  the  harbor  of  Plymouth.  It  will 
require  more  hours  to  do  this,  but  one  will  not  see  the 
“blue  hills  of  Milton,”  get  the  bracing  sea  air,  pass  the 
Gurnet  twin  lights,  look  upon  the  Plymouth  and  Stand- 
ish  monuments,  and  contemplate  the  great  occurrences 
which  that  shore  has  witnessed,  without  being  thank¬ 
ful  that  he  took  the  time  to  enter  the  harbor  through 
the  narrow  winding  channel,  much  in  the  form  of  the 
letter  “S,”  from  the  same  direction  and  in  about  the 
same  way  that  the  Forefathers  did. 

Let  us  try  to  go  back  to  their  time  and  look  at  these 
people  in  their  far-away  homes, —  so  much  farther 
then  than  now,  and  follow  them  in  their  courageous 
journey,  so  full  of  sorrow  yet  so  full  of  enduring  tri¬ 
umph,  over  the  sea. 


5 


History  first  finds  them,  but  not  until  more  than  two 
hundred  years  after  the  fact,  in  the  northern  part  of  Not¬ 
tinghamshire,  about  forty  miles  from  the  eastern  coast 
of  Old  England.  Here  they,  and  a  few  like  them,  had 
separated  from  the  rest  of  the  world  upon  religious 
matters  and,  gathering  together  a  few  kindred  spirits 
from  several  neighboring  villages,  had,  at  Scrooby, 
organized  a  small  congregation  of  Christians  called 
Separatists,  or  Brownists,  and  known  later  as  Inde¬ 
pendents  in  England  and  as  Congregationalists  in 
America. 

They  were  the  small  third  party  of  English  Protest¬ 
antism  and  of  the  English  politics  of  that  day.  Prot¬ 
estantism  had  very  naturally  and  appropriately  taken 
its  name  from  the  protests  of  its  people  against  the 
anthority  as  well  as  against  many  of  the  doctrines  and 
much  of  the  practice  of  the  Old  Mother  Church  of 
Rome.  English  Protestants  had  become  divided  into 
three  classes.  We  must  distinguish  between  them  if 
we  would  gain  any  understanding  of  the  conditions 
which  induced,  and  the  motives  which  actuated  the 
migration,  first  to  Holland  and  then  to  America;  or, 
indeed,  if  we  would  comprehend  the  early  religious 
and  political  history  of  our  own  land.  The  first  class 
were  Conformists;  that  is, rigid  and  cheerful  adherents 
of  the  ritual,  and  forms  and  ceremonies  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernmental  Church  of  England.  Indeed,  they  were  going 
farther  than  following  the  ritual  and  observing  the 
ceremonies  of  the  Established  Church:  they  were  com¬ 
ing  to  look  upon  the  King  as  not  only  the  earthly  head 
of  the  State  Church,  but  as  the  infallible  representa¬ 
tive  of  the  Living  God,  with  divine  authority  over  all 
temporal  and  political  matters,  which  it  would  be  high 
treason  to  call  in  question.  The  second  class  were 
Non-Conformists,  Purists  or  Puritans.  They  were 
“reformers”  within  the  English  Church.  They  were 
opposed  to  the  showy  vestments  which  were  worn,  and 
to  many  of  the  practices  and  ceremonies  which  were 
observed  in  the  services  of  the  Church.  They  denied 
and  repudiated  the  divine  authority  of  the  King.  But 


6 


while  they  were  for  purifying  they  had  no  thought  of 
leaving  the  Church.  The  Puritans  were  wrestling 
with  the  Ritualists  or  Conformists  for  the  control  of 
the  English  Protestant  Church,  and  there  is  no  great 
dearth  of  reason  for  believing  that  ambition  was  as 
potent  as  principle  in  determining  their  course.  It 
surely  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  when  they  gained 
the  power  to  control  they  commonly  fell  into  the  same 
ways  of  which  they  complained  so  bitterly  when  they 
were  in  the  minority.  The  Separatists  were  so  called 
because  they  separated  themselves  from  the  State 
Church.  They  were  Puritans,  but  they  were  so  much 
more  that  the  Puritans  in  England  and  afterwards  in 
America  disavowed  and  opposed  them.  They  were 
Protestants  of  the  Protestants.  They  were  so  ultra 
that  they  would  leave  the  great,  powerful  Church, 
which  the  English  State  ordained  and  supported  by 
political  and  civil  authority,  and  go  their  own  way. 

It  ought  not  to  be  difficult  for  us  to  see  how  much 
they  surrendered,  nor  how  much  obloquy  and  danger 
they  incurred,  in  separating  from  the  Church  and 
going  their  own  way.  When  there  was  little  religious 
toleration  in  the  world,  and  none  in  England,  when 
religious  enthusiasm  was  little  short  of  frenzy,  when 
the  State  and  the  Church  were  one  and  the  Church 
could  employ  the  powers  of  the  State  to  enforce  her 
fanatical  requirements,  when  to  leave  the  Church 
meant  to  defy  the  King  and  all  his  minions,  it  was  a 
supreme  religious  and  political  step  to  leave  the  Estab¬ 
lished  Church. 

The  differences  which  grew  up  in  the  English  Church 
were  not  upon  doctrines,  but  upon  matters  of  govern¬ 
ment,  policy,  practice  and  form.  In  a  later  age  they 
would  doubtless  have  been  adjusted  by  concession  and 
agreement,  but  the  times  were  severe  and  force  was  the 
cOntroling  power  in  the  world.  The  keen-witted  and 
unscrupulous  Elizabeth  had  managed  to  avoid  the 
issue.  Diplomacy  had  served  her  purpose  to  the  end 
of  her  reign.  But  James  was  without  her  resources 
and  the  differences  in  the  Church  immediately  became 


7 


acute  under  his  reign.  The  Puritan  minority  had  no 
rights  which  the  monarch  recognized  or  the  majority 
respected.  They  were  subjected  to  fines  and  exactions, 
to  subtle  annoyances  and  open  persecutions  until,  of 
necessity,  their  religious  movement  became  a  political 
movement.  In  time  they  grew  to  be  the  majority  in 
numbers.  It  was  then  that  their  religious  fortitude 
nerved  the  arm  that  struck  off  Charles’  head.  If  the 
Puritans  who  adhered  to  the  Church  were  harrassed, 
the  Separatists  who  left  the  Church  were  hunted,  im¬ 
prisoned,  burned  and  hanged,  until  all  must  flee  the 
country  if  they  would  keep  their  lives  and  worship 
God  in  their  own  independent  way.  In  large  numbers 
they  went  to  Holland,  where  the  good  cause  of  relig¬ 
ious  freedom  and  toleration  was  fighting  its  first  and 
bloodiest  battle  and  winning  its  most  signal  triumph 
in  the  history  of  the  world. 

The  little  congregation  of  Separatists  at  Scrooby  is 
of  great  interest  to  us,  for  out  of  its  numbers  came  the 
leading  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth  in  New  England.  The 
patriot  and  the  student  will  study  every  particle  of 
original  material  bearing  upon  the  careers  of  the  mem¬ 
bers  of  this  congregation,  as  well  as  upon  the  acts  of 
the  collective  body.  But  we  must,  unfortunately,  be 
content  today  with  the  merest  glance  at  the  most  sig¬ 
nificant  steps  in  its  progress  from  obscurity  to  the 
highest  pinacle  of  world-fame  and  a  most  consequential 
factor  in  the  development  of  nations. 

In  1607  persecution  had  become  so  dreadful  that  it 
was  determined  to  seek  refuge  in  the  Netherlands. 
Elizabeth  had  consented  to  these  migrations  during  her 
reign,  but  James  was  intent  upon  preventing  and  pun¬ 
ishing  them.  As  Bradford  says:  “Though  they  could 
not  stay  yet  were  they  not  suffered  to  go.”  In  their 
efforts  to  get  out  of  England  and  reach  a  land  where 
thought  could  be  free  and  worship  untrammeled,  their 
members  were  robbed  of  their  money,  despoiled  of 
their  goods,  thrown  into  prison  in  the  name  of  English 
justice,  and  scattered  in  all  directions  by  ecclesiastical 
hate  assuming  to  act  in  the  name  of  the  Living  God. 


8 


It  was  almost  a  year  before  neighbors  and  friends, 
husbands  and  wives,  parents  and  children  were  re¬ 
united  on  the  banks  of  the  Zuyder'Zee,  bound  together 
more  closely  than  ever  by  the  common  perils  they  had 
suffered,  the  common  separation  from  old  homes  and 
all  the  associations  of  their  lives,  and  the  common 
loneliness  in  a  country  where  the  land,  the  houses,  the 
people  and  the  language  were  all  new  and  strange  to 
them. 

Here  for  twelve  years  they  received  welcome  and 
protection  by  a  people  who  had  just  laid  down  a 
hundred  thousand  lives  to  establish  intellectual  and 
spiritual  freedom  as  the  sure  basis  of  political  liberty, 
and  who  had  celebrated  the  triumphs  of  their  arms  by 
setting  up  free  schools  and  academies,  as  well  as  five 
national  universities. 

When  they  made  applications  to  the  Burgomasters 
and  Court  of  Leyden  for  leave  to  take  up  their  resi¬ 
dence  in  that  city,  it  was  granted  with  the  following 
endorsement  upon  the  petition,  yiz:  “The  Court  in 
making  a  disposition  of  this  present  memorial,  declare 
that  they  refuse  no  honest  persons  free  ingress  to  come 
and  have  residence  in  this  city,  provided  that 
such  persons  behave  themselves,  and  submit  to  the  laws 
and  ordinances;  and  therefore  the  coming  of  the  Me¬ 
morialists  will  be  agreeable  and  welcome.  This  is  done 
in  their  Council  House,  12th  February  1699.*’  Surely 
this  action  tells  a  very  large  story. 

It  is  a  little  significant,  but  not  strange,  that  the  time 
of  their  sojourn  in  Holland  is  almost  identical  with  the 
twelve  years’  truce  agreed  upon  with  Philip  which  fol¬ 
lowed  the  first  Spanish  recognition  of  the  Netherland 
Republic.  With  the  prospect  of  renewed  hostilities 
they  were  forced  to  elect  whether  they  would  engage 
in  the  common  defense,  with  the  practical  certainty  of 
being  absorbed  into  the  Dutch  life,  and  of  losing  their 
identity  as  an  English  society,  or  would  migrate  to  a 
far-away  land  where  they  could  retain  the  language, 
the  customs  and  the  common  law,  and  fly  the  flag  of  old 
England,  and  yet  secure  the  freedom  of  thought  and 


9 


manner  of  worship  which  religious  and  political 
frenzy  denied  them  in  the  Mother-land.  They  had 
lived  peaceably  with  the  Dutch,  and  their  new  home 
had  given  them  better  advantages,  aside  from  religious 
freedom,  than  they  had  previously  enjoyed.  They 
were  hard -by  the  first  commercial  city  of  the  world. 
They  had  lived  under  the  shadow  of  a  national  univer¬ 
sity.  They  were  among  a  people  more  largely  engaged 
in  maritime  pursuits  and  enterprises,  and  in  manufac¬ 
tures  involving  skilled  labor,  than  any  other  people  up¬ 
on  the  globe  The  war  had  sharpened  intelligence, 
leveled  classes,  and  worked  a  marvelous  material  de¬ 
velopment.  Education  had  flourished  and  the  masses 
were  beginning  to  get  a  good  foot-hold  in  affairs.  The 
Pilgrims  were  profited  by  these  things,  and  they  en¬ 
gaged  in  the  vocations  of  the  people,  rendered  honora¬ 
ble  service,  paid  their  debts,  and  avoided  controversy. 
They  were  self-respecting,  and  public  officials  have  left 
records  which  show  that  they  were  much  respected. 
They  welcomed  to  their  circle  strangers  of  any  shade 
of  religious  faith  who  could  fall  in  with  their  manner 
of  worship.  For  reasons  which  were  obvious,  they 
were  exclusive  in  their  social  and  religious  life  But 
children  were  growing  up,  and  growing  up  with  feel¬ 
ings  not  altogether  akin  to  those  which  had  come  with 
their  fathers  from  their  old  homes,  and,  what  seemed 
worse  to  them,  they  persisted  in  falling  in  love  with  the 
children  of  the  Dutch.  Their  business  relations  with 
the  people  all  around  them  necessarily  became  more 
and  more  intimate.  The  renewal  of  the  war  would  call 
every  man  into  the  service.  If  the  war  should  go 
against  them  Holland  would  become  a  Spanish  prov¬ 
ince,  and  they  dreaded  Spain  even  more  than  England- 
Their  exclusiveness  and  their  identity  as  an  English 
society  were  in  danger.  They  must  soon  become  a  part 
of  the  Dutch  people  or  they  must  move  to  a  more 
isolated  home.  They  discussed  long  and  earnestly; 
they  could  not  agree;  they  separated  into  two  very 
nearly  equal  parts;  but  they  disagreed  in  love.  The 
natural  affection  for  their  native  land,  their  mother- 


10 


tongue,  and  for  the  traditions  and  aspirations  of  the 
English  nation,  led  one  party  to  decide  that  they  must 
go.  But  others,  even  including  John  Robinson,  their 
great  pastor,  would  stay  behind;  perhaps,  if  all  went 
well,  they  would  follow  in  later  time. 

That  party  which  would  go  bargained  with  a  com¬ 
pany  of  English  adventurers  to  transport  them  to 
America,  the  new,  the  unknown  world.  This  company 
was  to  procure  them  chartered  rights  in  lands  that 
were  without  market  value  and  hardly  worth  the  ask¬ 
ing.  For  this*  they  agreed  to  give  the  company  half  of 
all  the  profits  in  traffic,  fishing,  tilling  the  ground,  and 
other  labor  of  all  kinds,  in  their  new  home,  for  the 
period  of  seven  years.  They  were  to  have  goods  in 
common;  four  days  in  the  week  they  were  to  labor  for 
the  joint  account,  and  two  for  themselyes.  At  the  end 
of  seven  years  each  planter  was  to  have  the  house  he 
had  built  and  the  garden  he  had  tilled.  They  were  to 
sail  from  the  nearest  port,  Delft  Haven,  in  the  “Speed¬ 
well”  for  Southampton,  and  there  gather  up  a  few 
English  friends,  and  then  in  the  “Speedwell”  and  the 
“Mayflower”  start  on  their  long  journey. 

Things  being  ready  a  day  of  fasting  was  observed 
and  then,  in  the  evening,  both  sections  of  the  congre¬ 
gation  set  out  for  Delft  Haven,  fourteen  miles  distant, 
spending  the  whole  night  together  in  song  and  prayer, 
with  “  friendly  entertainment  and  Christian  discourse.” 
The  time  for  parting  came  in  the  morning.  That  part¬ 
ing  must  separate  friends  and  neighbors  who  were  to 
each  other  more  than  friends  and  neighbors,  and  in 
many  cases  it  must  break  families  for  life.  They 
realized  it  and  “for  the  abundance  of  sorrow  they 
could  not  speak.”  Falling  upon  their  knees,  Robinson 
entreated  God’s  protection,  they  silently  embraced  each 
other,  then  one  part  turned  back  to  lose  its  identity  in 
twentv-five  years  among  the  Dutch,  and  the  other  part 
passed  over  the  gang-plank  and  under  the  English  flag, 
to  gain  unparalleled  fame  as  the  fathers  and  mothers 
of  a  great  new  State  of  worldwide  significance,  and  to 


11 


give  inspiration  to  the  brightest  and  broadest  and  most 
beneficent  new  civilization  in  world  history. 

Bradford  says:  “So  they  left  that  goodly  and  pleas¬ 
ant  city  which  had  been  their  resting  place  near  twelve 
years:  but  they  knew  that  they  were  Pilgrims .” 

They  were  hardly  on  their  way  before  they  began  to 
be  subjected  to  a  system  of  robbery  and  treachery 
which  was  to  continue  through  many  years  and  to 
which  they  were  to  submit  in  patience  until  they  had 
many  times  paid  the  pound  of  flesh  nominated  in  the 
bond,  and  until  they  were  strong  enough  to  put  an  end 
to  the  disreputable  cupidity  of  their  task  masters.  It 
was  more  than  twenty-five  years  before  the  little  Pil¬ 
grim  Republic  could  say  it  owed  no  man  anything. 
First  they  were  forced  to  sell  provisions  to  raise  £60  to 
pay  certain  port  charges  before  they  could  sail,  and 
which  did  not  properly  devolve  upon  them.  Setting 
sail,  they  were  out  four  days  when  the  “  Speedwell  ” 
was  reported  to  be  leaking  dangerously  All  bore  up 
for  Dartmouth  and  ten  days  were  spent  in  unloading 
and  repairing  her  from  stem  to  stern,  when  she  was 
pronounced  entirely  sea-worthy.  Starting  again,  they 
were  three  hundred  miles  upon  their  journey  when  the 
captain  of  the  “Speedwell”  again  reported  her  leaking 
and  insisted  upon  putting  back  to  the  English  Ply¬ 
mouth,  and  then,  although  no  leak  was  found,  refused 
to  again  undertake  the  journey.  He  was  resorting  to 
treachery  to  avoid  his  agreement  to  carry  them  to 
America  and  remain  with  them  a  year.  Time  was 
vital,  however,  and  so  it  was  arranged  that  the  “Speed¬ 
well”  should  be  abandoned  and  return  to  London. 
Eighteen  of  her  passengers  returned  with  her,  the  re¬ 
mainder  crowding  into  the  “Mayflower.”  Fully  six 
weeks  after  the  departure  from  Leyden  the  “May¬ 
flower,”  with  her  precious  freight,  made  her  third  and 
final  start,  and  it  was  to  be  more  than  two,  long,  bitter 
months  before  she  was  to  sight  the  shores  of  the  New 
World. 

While  she  is  slowly  making  her  way  amid  sunshine 
and  storm  over  the  great  deep,  let  us  study  her  pas- 


12 


Sengers  a  little  more  closely.  How  they  had  been  win¬ 
nowed  by  repeated  separations  from  the  common  herd ! 
At  old  Scrooby  they  had  separated  from  all  the  world 
around  them;  going  from  there,  the  less  daring  stayed 
behind;  they  had  left  fully  half  their  number,  and 
surely  not  the  most  courageous  half,  at  Leyden;  those 
who  started  and  became  discouraged  had  returned  at 
the  last  moment  with  the  captain  of  the  “  Speedwell;” 
the  remaining  ones  were  surely  cast  in  an  heroic  mould, 
and  the  blood  of  an  hundred  kings  was  not  more  royal 
than  was  theirs. 

There  were  one  hundred  and  two  passengers  upon 
the  vessel,  seventy-three  males  and  twenty-nine 
females.  There  were  fifty-nine  adults,  eleven  hired 
employes  or  apprentices,  and  thirty -two  children. 
Nearly  all  were  blessed  with  plain,  old-fashioned 
English  names.  One- fifth  of  the  males  bore  the  simple 
name  of  John,  and  almost  as  many  more  had  that  of 
William  or  Edward.  Catherine,  Elizabeth,  Dorothy, 
Mary,  and  Ann  predominated  among  the  other  sex. 
There  were  no  Lizzies  or  Bessies  or  Mollies  among 
them.  They  were  very  commonly  below  middle  life, 
and  hut  one  couple,  so  far  as  is  known,  was  above  fifty 
years  of  age. 

Concerning  the  individuals,  the  chief  interest  centers 
in  the  names  of  Carver,  Brewster,  Bradford,  Stand ish, 
Fuller,  Howland,  Hopkins  and  Alden.  Would  that  we 
could  stop  to  speak  a  word  of  each  one  of  them!  They 
do  not  need  it,  for  history  and  literature  will  keep  them 
green  in  the  grateful  memory  of  a  mighty  nation 
and  of  the  world  through  all  generations,  but  perhaps 
we  might  be  profited  thereby. 

On  Saturday,  November  20,  1620,  the  Indians  on  the 
outer  shore  of  Cape  Cod  were  able  to  discern  a  sail 
piercing  the  rim  of  the  eastern  horizon,  for  that  morn¬ 
ing  the  long-deferred,  magnetic  cry  of  “Land,  ho!” 
rang  out  from  the  masthead  of  the  “Mayflower.”  The 
English  company  had  secured  certain  land  rights  for 
them  from  the  Virginia  Company,  whose  territory  was 
to  the  south,  but  of  very  uncertain  limitations.  The 


13 


vessel  was  at  once  put  S.  S.  E.,  for  it  was  the  purpose 
to  go  to  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson,  or  below.  Encoun¬ 
tering  shoals  at  evening,  the  vessel  put  back  for  clear 
water,  and  passed  the  night  It  was  represented  now 
that  it  was  dangerous  to  attempt  the  southern  passage. 
The  coast  was  well  known  to  mariners,  however,  and 
the  captain  was  a  veteran.  In  any  event,  it  was  deter¬ 
mined  to  put  into  Cape  Cod  Harbor  and  continue  in  the 
ship  until  they  could  construct  habitations  upon  the 
shore.  A  month  was  now  passed  in  exploring  the 
shores  and  journeying  upon  the  land  in  quest  of  a  safe 
harbor  and  a  suitable  situation  for  a  town.  They 
coasted  in  the  shallop  of  the  ship  over  the  waters  and 
journeyed  upon  the  land  for  days  together,  seeking  the 
best  location  for  their  future  home.  The  safe  harbor, 
the  eastern  outlook  from  a  sloping  back-ground,  the 
natural  advantages  for  defense,  the  quality  of  the  soil 
and  the  “very  sweet  brook”  and  the  “many  delicate 
springs”  as  Bradford  called  them,  decided  the  matter, 
and  they  brought  the  Mayflower  upon  the  last  twenty- 
five  miles  of  her  great  voyage,  past  the  point  where  the 
twin  Gurnet  lights  now  stand,  and  where  it  is  said  that 
Thorwald  the  old  Norse  chieftain  found  his  grave,  with 
a  Christian  cross  at  the  head  and  foot,  six  hundred 
years  before,  past  Saquish  Point  and  in  full  view  of 
Captain’s  Hill,  around  the  most  wonderful  natural 
breakwater  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  made  her  fast  in 
tne  harbor  of  Plymouth. 

It  was  Thursday,  December  21,  the  shortest  day  in 
the  year.  It  had  been  five  long  months  since  the  start 
at  Leyden.  They  had  been  transplanted  from  bright 
summer  in  the  Old  World  to  stern  winter  in  the  New. 
Too  well  they  knew  that. 

“The  breaking  waves  dashed  high 

On  a  stern  and  rock-bound  coast.” 

Undaunted,  they  marked  out  “The  Street”  just  north 
of  the  brook  and  running  from  the  shore  back  to  the 
abrupt  hill.  They  decided  assignments  of  land  by  lot. 
They  waited  for  the  Sabbath  to  pass,  and  on  the  fol¬ 
lowing  Monday  morning  began  the  building  of  the  rude 


14 


cabins  which  marked  the  first  town  of  Plymouth.  What 
wonder  that  that  street  is  “Leyden  Street.”  Nearest 
the  shore  and  on  the  left  was  the  “Common  House,” 
and  then  beyond,  on  the  same  side,  were  six  humble 
residences.  Across  the  street  were  five  more,  includ¬ 
ing  the  governor’s  more  roomy  if  not  more  stately 
home.  At  the  end  of  the  street,  on  the  hill,  stood  the 
structure  which  served  for  fort  and  church  together, 
and  nearest  it,  for  obvious  reasons,  was  the  abode  of 
Standish. 

The  accommodations  seemed  meager  indeed  and  close 
planning  was  necessary.  The  company  was  separated 
into  households  so  that  all  were  measurably  provided 
for.  But,  in  a  way  they  knew  not,  there  would  soon  be 
more  room.  Four  had  died  upon  the  vessel  after  she 
reached  the  barbor.  The  fair  young  wife  of  Bradford, 
only  twenty-one,  had  been  drowned  while  he  was  away 
searching  the  site  of  their  new  home.  Before  the  warm 
days  of  another  summer  nine  husbands  and  wives  had 
found  burial  together.  Five  husbands  had  been  left 
widowers  and  one  wife  a  widow.  But  three  couples 
remained  unbroken,  and  but  two  wTere  not  called  upon 
to  mourn  some  member  of  their  families  gone.  Five 
children  lost  both  parents,  three  others  were  fatherless 
and  three  more  were  motherless.  The  first  year  fifty-one 
persons,  exactly  half  their  number,  went  to  final  rest 
and  were  laid  together  on  Cole’s  Hill  close  by  their 
homes,  and  their  graves  were  obliterated  lest  the 
Indians  should  learn  how  weak  the  colony  was  and 
should  fall  upon  and  utterly  destroy  it.  Yet,  when  the 
Mayflower  returned  to  Old  England  in  the  warmer 
April  days,  while  they  doubtless  went  to  the  hill  tops 
and  with  breaking  hearts  and  tearful  eyes,  as  Bough- 
ton’s  famous  picture  portrays  to  us,  watched  her  white 
sails  sink  below  the  eastern  horizon,  not  one  of  them 
returned  in  her.  Feebly,  but  heroically  and  surely,  the 
spirit  of  American  institutions  had  gained  foothold  in 
the  New  World,  and  the  march  of  empire  was  not  to  be 
backward  and  over  the  sea,  but  to  the  westward. 

When  this  little  company  came  sailing  into  the  liar- 


15 


bor  of  Plymouth,  they  had  a  new  nation  with  them. 
They  had  established  it  in  the  cabin  of  the  Mayflower. 
Disappointed  in  not  reaching  the  Hudson  or  the  Dela¬ 
ware,  where  they  assumed  their  patent  from  the  Vir¬ 
ginia  Company  would  confer  landed  rights  and  impose 
English  law,  some  of  them  reasoned  that  there  would 
be  no  authority  and  no  rights  upon  the  soil  of  New 
England,  and  that  they  must  at  once  establish  a  gov¬ 
ernment  for  themselves.  Therefore  they  called  all  of 
the  adult  males  to  the  cabin  and  adopted  and  sub¬ 
scribed  to  a  compact  to  ‘‘‘solemnly  and  mutually,  in  the 
presence  of  God  and  one  of  another,  covenant  and  com¬ 
bine  ourselves  together  into  a  civil  body  politic,  for  our 
best  ordering  and  preservation  and  the  furtherance  of 
the  ends  aforesaid;  and  by  virtue  hereof  to  enact,  con¬ 
stitute  and  frame  such  just  and  equal  laws,  ordinances, 
acts,  constitutions  and  offices,  from  time  to  time,  as 
shall  be  thought  most  meet  and  convenient  for  the  gen¬ 
eral  good  of  the  colony,  unto  which  we  promise  all  due 
submission  and  obedience.”  Then  they  made  John 
Carver  governor  for  a  determinate  time,  to  end  with 
their  calendar  year. 

Here  was  a  pure  democracy  with  a  written  constitu¬ 
tion,  upon  tbe  basis  of  manhood  suffrage.  It  was  the 
first  known  instance  of  the  kind  in  human  history. 
Bancroft  says  it  was  the  birth  of  popular  constitution 
al  liberty. 

The  limitations  of  the  hour  forbid  that  we  shall  fol¬ 
low  the  narrative  longer,  and  perhaps  reveal  the  fact 
that  I  have  already  yielded  too  much  to  my  own  inter¬ 
est  in  the  details  of  the  fascinating  story.  But  there 
are  some  suggestions  of  a  general  character  which  seem 
pertinent  to  the  occasion,  for  which  I  must  ask  your 
kindly  patience. 

In  the  first  ten  years  the  colony  had,  speaking  rough¬ 
ly,  increased  to  five  hundred  souls,  and  in  the  following 
ten  years  as  many  more  had  been  added.  But  in  the 
last  ten  years  a  settlement  of  the  highest  importance 
had  been  thoroughly  established  on  Massachusetts 
Bay,  forty  miles  to  the  north  of  it.  In  that  time 


16 


more  than  twenty  thousand  English  people  had  made 
new  homes  in  Boston.  They  came  in  the  eleven  years 
when  Charles  governed  England  without  a  parliament, 
only  to  make  the  tyranny  of  the  king  sharpen  religious 
hate,  stir  the  mind  and  nerve  the  arm  of  the  commons, 
and  clear  the  road  to  his  prison  and  his  doom.  They 
ceased  coming  when  the  long  parliament  had  gathered, 
taken  up  government  in  the  name  of  the  people,  de¬ 
veloped  Cromwell  and  the  Ironsides,  and  brought  cabi¬ 
net  minister  and  bishop,  and  finally  the  king  himself, 
to  the  bar,  and  then  sent  them  to  the  block.  These 
new  neighbors  were  old  acquaintances  in  a  way,  for 
they  were  Puritans,  representatives  of  one  of  the  two 
leading  parties  in  English  Protestantism  and  English 
politics. 

No  word  of  ours  can,  even  by  implication,  be  made  to 
do  otherwise  than  yield  honor  to  the  spirit  of  English 
Puritanism.  No  greater  or  more  heroic  spirit  ever 
breathed  among  men.  Without  intending  it,  and  al¬ 
most  in  spite  of  itself,  it  has  been  the  most  potent  fac¬ 
tor  in  the  growth  of  individuality,  in  the  upbuilding  of 
character,  and  in  the  evolution  of  popular  liberty.  Its 
coldly  logical  creed  sharpened  the  faith  of  men  and 
made  of  the  faithful  the  best  fighters  the  world  has 
ever  seen.  For  the  cause  they  espoused  they  could 
cheerfully  die,  but  never  yield.  Sincere,  undoubting, 
dreadfully  in  earnest,  singing  and  praying  and  preach¬ 
ing  and  fighting  together,  they  made  the  fields  of 
Naseby  and  Dunbar  and  Marston  Moor  grounds  which 
inspire  the  progress  of  the  human  race,  for  upon  them 
they  taught  the  Stuart  kings  and  all  the  world  together 
the  grim  lesson  that  if  there  are  divine  rights  among 
men  they  are  inherent  in  the  people  and  not  in  the 
kings 

And  so  the  Puritan  stock  was  a  good  one  to  enter 
into  the  composition  of  a  new  nation,  but  the  Puritan 
spirit  must  be  chastened  and  moderated  before  it  could 
give  the  artist  touch  to  the  spirit  of  liberty  across  the 
sea.  It  was  to  be  a  softened  Puritan  character,  as 
exemplified  in  the  Pilgrim  at  Plymouth,  rather  than 


17 


the  austere  type,  unchanged  and  unadapted,  as  seen  in 
the  Ironsides  at  the  Bay,  which  was  to  breathe  not 
only  the  spirit  of  Christianity  as  they  interpreted  it, 
but  also  of  independence,  of  equality,  of  liberty,  and  of 
nationality  into  American  life,  and  by  these  great 
marks  to  distinguish  it  to  all  the  people  of  the  world. 

The  Puritan  was  in  a  very  large  sense  a  Dependent. 
He  was  a  devout  adherent  of  the  English  State  Church. 
Independence  from  it  was  sacrilege  to  him.  Its  doc¬ 
trine  was  his  law  and  gospel.  He  differed  with  some 
of  its  practices,  but  when  he  could  control  its  action  he 
was  content.  And,  truth  to  tell,  when  he  was  in  the 
majority  his  way  was  not  so  very  different  from  the 
way  of  the  Conformists  when  they  were  in  the  ma¬ 
jority.  No  other  man  was  ever  so  fond  of  having  his 
own  way  as  this  Puritan  father  of  ours,  and  when  he 
could  be  in  charge  of  the  procession  he  was  not  much 
discomfited  by  vestments  and  ceremonies.  He  was 
an  unquestioning  supporter  of  the  English  State  as 
well  as  of  the  English  Church.  His  opposition  to  the 
House  of  Stuart  was  religious,  but  it  was  political  as 
well  as  religious.  But  his  opposition  to  the  king  never 
led  him  into  opposition  to  the  State.  It  was  in  his 
mind  to  control  and  not  separate  from  the  State.  He 
was  an  excellent  leader,  but  not  so  good  a  follower. 
He  liked  to  lead  and  he  expected  to  control  the  people 
about  him.  He  never  thought  of  seceding  until  after 
he  had  taken  his  next  degree.  It  never  occurred  to 
him  to  permit  his  opposition  to  bishop  or  king  to  lead 
him  beyond  the  advantages  the  state  or  the  church  could 
bestow,  and  frequently  he  had  ideas  of  getting  to  be 
bishop  or  king  himself. 

The  Pilgrim  was  an  Independent.  He  had  long 
before  gone  out  of  the  English  Church.  He  loved  the 
language  and  the  common  law,  and  of  course  he  loved 
the  hills  and  the  valleys,  the  high-ways  and  the  struc¬ 
tures  of  Old  England.  But  he  was  not  allowed  to  look 
upon  the  hills  and  follow  the  highways  without  sur¬ 
rendering  his  freedom,  and  that  he  would  not  do. 
Long  ago  he  had  left  the  English  Church  and  State 


18 


behind.  Of  late  he  had  crossed  the  wide  sea  to  keep 
the  language  and  retain  the  law  of  the  Mother-land, 
while  he  organized  a  Church  without  asking  leave  of 
any  one,  and  set  up  an  English  State  all  by  himself. 
In  thought  and  act  the  Pilgrim  was  thoroughly  an 
Independent  himself,  and  the  rightful  founder  of  an 
Independent  State. 

The  Puritan  had  no  understanding  and  no  conception 
of  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law.  He  had  been 
familiar  with  class  distinctions  and  he  did  not  dislike 
them.  Indeed,  he  had  never  known  any  other  way. 
There  were  many  men  and  women  at  the  Bay 
who  belonged  to  the  gentry.  They  brought  with  them 
to  the  New  World  the  English  passion  for  landed  pos¬ 
sessions.  Each  man  of  them  wanted  a  domain  for 
himself  and  his  descendants.  I  am  not  saying  that  he 
was  the  worse  for  this,  but  only  that  he  was  not  crying 
for  the  corner-stone  principle  of  our  American  national 
life.  The  first  school  the  Puritan  State  in  Massachu¬ 
setts  set  up  was  a  college  after  the  English  plan,  to 
train  the  sons  of  the  higher  classes  for  the  offices  of  the 
Church  and  State.  There  was  little  thought  of  educa¬ 
tion  for  the  children  of  the  poor.  It  was  naturally  so, 
but  it  teas  so.  Governor  Winthrop  frequently  talked 
of  the  “common  people.”  As  good  an  authority  as 
Charles  Francis  Adams  says:  “The  common  people 
were  whipped  and  set  in  the  stocks  when  they  misbe¬ 
haved  themselves.  The  gentry  were  fined  and  admon¬ 
ished.”  One  of  their  criminal  statutes  reads:  “No 
man  shall  be  beaten  with  above  forty  stripes,  nor  shall 
any  true  gentleman ,  nor  any  man  equal  to  a  gentleman , 
be  punished  with  whipping,  unless  his  crime  be  very 
shameful  and  his  course  of  life  vicious  and  profligate.” 
The  suffrage  was  limited  to  the  people  of  his  liking.  It 
is  not  strange  that  it  was  so,  but  it  remains  that  it 
was  so. 

The  Pilgrim,  on  the  other  hand,  loved  the  common 
brotherhood  and  put  all  upon  an  equal  footing.  He  had 
seen  more  of  the  world  and  it  had  widened  his  outlook 
and  changed  his  feeling.  From  the  beginning  he  put 


19 


the  suffrage  upon  the  basis  of  manhood.  He  had  seen 
what  his  Puritan  brother  had  never  seen,  the  equal 
division  of  estates  among  all  the  children.  He  put 
faith  in  the  mass  and,  after  untrammeled  discussion,  he 
steered  his  course  by  the  will  of  the  greater  number. 
He  was  the  best  early  representative  of  that  American 
spirit  which  puts  all  native-born  or  adopted  children  of 
the  Republic  upon  a  common  plane  and  bestows  the 
highest  rewards  upon  the  most  assiduous  and  the  most 
deserving. 

The  Puritan  was  a  bigot.  He  was  an  exceedingly 
interesting  bigot,  it  is  true  He  was  a  timely  bigot  and 
he  had  a  very  salutary  influence  upon  individual  and 
national  life,  both  in  England  and  America.  But  he 
was  a  bigot  all  the  same.  The  Puritan  did  not  come  to 
Massachusetts  to  establish  religious  liberty.  That  was 
the  last  thing  he  wanted  for  any  but  himself,  and  his 
demands  were  moderate  in  his  own  direction  He  came  to 
establish  a  theocratic  State,  and  for  a  considerable 
time  he  accomplished  what  he  undertook.  Citizenship 
was  limited  to  church  membership.  In  discipline  he 
was  unreasonably  severe.  He  taxed  his  ingenuity,  and 
it  was  great,  to  make  Hell  dreadful  and  scare  people 
into  Heaven.  He  was  not  uneducated,  but  he  was 
highly  superstitious.  He  saw  omens  for  good  or  evil 
in  the  most  ordinary  occurrences.  Capital  offences 
were  numerous  in  his  State  and  he  would  punish  when 
he  was  so  disposed,  law  or  no  law.  His  will  was  law. 
He  knew  no  such  thing  as  toleration.  All  who  were 
not  Puritans  were  of  Satan,  and  he  would  have  none  of 
them.  He  was  not  over-charged  with  pity.  His  fear 
of  witchcraft,  comets,  and  the  visitation  of  a  material 
devil  was  consuming  His  theology  was  logical  and 
severe,  and  for  it  he  crucified  the  flesh.  His  manners 
were  strained  and  his  life  steady  and  exact,  his  spirit 
unyielding,  his  worship  altogether  sincere  and  entirely 
uninterrupted,  and,  withal,  his  doings  made  for  char¬ 
acter,  for  intellectual  activity  and  for  progress. 

The  Pilgrim  was  a  Puritan,  but  he  had  taken  a  post 
graduate  degree.  He  was  in  advance  of  Puritan 


20 


thought.  He  was  a  Puritan  in  character,  but  he  was  a 
Puritan  subdued.  He  had  been  chastened  by  his  sor¬ 
rows.  He  had  lived  for  twelve  years  in  a  land  where 
there  was  intellectual  freedom  and  complete  religious 
toleration  The  laws  which  he  made  in  his  new  State 
were  more  liberal  than  in  any  other  State  upon  the 
earth.  He  made  but  eight  capital  crimes.  There  were 
more  than  two  hundred  in  England  at  the  beginning  of 
this  century.  He  executed  his  laws  fearlessly  and  with 
certainty.  When  it  was  necessary  to  show  the  savages 
his  strength  and  teach  them  a  lesson  his  retribution 
was  appalling.  In  personal  morality  he  was  no  less 
exacting  than  his  neighbor  forty  miles  away.  He  wel¬ 
comed  all  sects  if  they  would  earn  their  own  living  and 
conform  to  his  civil  law,  and  he  not  only  welcomed 
them  but  he  gave  them  a  part  with  him  in  making  and 
administering  the  law  they  were  expected  to  obey. 
Standisli,  the  strong  right  arm  of  his  little  State,  was 
not  of  his  Church,  and  there  is  some  reason  to  think  he 
was  a  child  of  the  old  Mother  Church  of  Rome.  The 
Pilgrim  hung  no  witches  and  was  remarkably  free 
from  superstition,  for  his  day  and  age.  He  had  made 
much  progress  in  courtesy  and  in  generosity.  Father 
Druillette,  a  French  Jesuit,  in  his  journal  refers  to  his 
pleasant  entertainment  by  Bradford,  when  he  visited 
Plymouth, a  nd  speaks  of  his  thoughtfulness  in  providing 
a  fish  dinner  because  it  was  Friday.  The  ears  of  the 
Baptist  were  safe  at  Plymouth.  Roger  Williams  says: 
“That  great  and  pious  soul,  Mr.  Winslow,  melted  and 
kindly  visited  me  and  put  a  purse  of  gold  into  the 
hands  of  my  wife  for  our  support.”  The  Puritan  was 
not  given  to  liberality  and  toleration,  but  the  Pilgrim 
was,  and  to  a  degree  in  advance  of  his  time 
The  conditions  at  the  Bay  did  not  permit  the  building 
of  an  independent  nation.  The  traditions  and  thought, 
the  alliances  and  sympathies,  the  interests  of  the  officials 
and  the  preaching  of  the  clergy  were  all  against  it. 
This  was  emphatically  true  after  the  Puritan  party 
got  the  upper  hand  in  English  politics.  But  the  wind 
never  ceased  to  blow  the  other  way  at  Plymouth  The 


21 


Pilgrim  had  no  relations  to  divert  his  thought  from  an 
ultimate  nationality  of  his  own,  and  upon  the  lines 
which  he  had  been  following  since  the  old  days  when 
he  was  cheated  and  robbed  and  imprisoned  and  scat¬ 
tered  abroad,  by  English  power,  even  in  his  attempts  to 
gain  refuge  across  the  North  Sea. 

The  Puritan  theocracy  served  its  time  and  its  pur¬ 
pose  in  the  plan  of  the  Almighty  and  then  broke  down, 
and  we  are  glad  of  it.  American  air  would  not  sustain 
it.  The  trend  of  life  in  the  New  World  was  against  it. 
When,  seventy  years  after  the  landing,  the  two  colonies 
became  one  they  moved  forward  on  lines  projected  at 
Plymouth,  and  steadily  and  surely  towards  indepen¬ 
dence  and  nationality.  Time  and  exigencies  made 
Separatists  of  the  American  Puritans.  They  all  moved 
together  toward  a  great  climax,  that  climax  an  English 
nation  substantially  upon  the  plan  started  in  the  cabin 
of  the  “Mayflower”  and  established  upon  the  rock  at 
Plymouth. 

There  was  never  any  alliance  of  State  and  Church  in 
the  Old  Colony.  The  civil  and  military  organizations 
were  always  separate  there.  All  who  led  well-ordered 
lives  were  welcomed  and  the  suffrage  was  universal. 
Piety  was  common  and  the  reign  of  the  law  was  su¬ 
preme.  They  had  been  the  first  to  combine  sovereignty 
and  liberty  in  one  plan.  This  was  the  plan  upon  which 
a  new  nation  would  grow.  It  was  incompatible  with 
the  religious  and  political  conditions  which  prevailed 
over  the  sea,  and  it  was  out  of  joint  with  the  plan  of 
government  in  the  Mother-land.  Separation  was  log¬ 
ical  and  inevitable.  Brewster  and  Bradford  and  Win¬ 
slow  and  Standish  were  the  men  whose  spirits  inspired 
Otis  and  Franklin  and  the  Adamses  and  Henry  and 
Washington  and  Jefferson  and  Hamilton  and  John 
Marshall  and  all  the  other  patriots  of  the  Revolution 
and  fathers  of  the  Constitution.  The  famous  declara¬ 
tion  by  which  the  American  people  became  a  nation, 
assumed  sovereignty  and  attained  independence,  was 
the  logical  and  imperative  sequence  of  Separatism 


22 


germinated  at  old  Scrooby,  nourished  in  the  Nether¬ 
lands  and  matured  at  Plymouth. 

We  should  never  cease  to  congratulate  ourselves  and 
thank  God  that  we  live  in  a  great  and  happy  day.  For 
us,  at  least,  the  old  conditions,  the  old  troubles,  and  the 
old  questions  have  passed  away.  We  speak  of  them 
now  only  to  illumine  the  present.  The  divine  rights  of 
kings  have  given  place  to  the  divine  rights  of  the  peo¬ 
ple.  We  make  and  administer  our  own  laws  and  we 
all  stand  equal  before  the  law.  Church  and  State  are 
completely  dissociated.  Thought  and  speech  are  un¬ 
hampered.  Worship,  in  whatever  form,  in  the  great 
Cathedral  or  by  the  Salvation  Army  on  the 
cold  pavement  of  a  great  city,  is  not  only 
unquestioned  but  always  respected.  The  old  Roman 
Church  and  the  younger  Protestant  Church,  Reform¬ 
ists,  Conformists,  Non-Conformists,  Puritans  and  Sep¬ 
aratists,  Presbyterians  and  Quakers,  the  disciples  of 
Luther  and  of  Wesley,  of  Ignatius  Loyola  and  of  Henry 
of  Navarre,  Jews  and  Gentiles,  follow  their  own  religious 
ideas  while  they  gather  in  peace  under  one  great  flag. 
Better  than  that,  they  find  plenty  of  room  and  they  stim¬ 
ulate  each  other  to  better  thinking  and  to  good  works. 
They  rejoice  in  each  other’s  progress  and  they  grow  in 
fraternal  regard.  And  so  the  common  intelligence  ad¬ 
vances  and  the  spirit  of  the  Living  God  marches  on  to 
the  redemption  of  mankind. 

And  what  scene  so  typical  of  all  this  as  this  mixed 
company,  discussing  and  approving  these  things,  on  a 
Sunday  afternoon,  under  the  roof  of  an  American  State 
University? 

No  matter  from  whence  we  come,  we  are  all  glad  that 
we  live  in  this  day  and  in  this  fair  land.  Human 
events  have  been  divinely  directed.  As  we  witness  the 
heroism  and  feel  the  pathos  of  the  past,  we  place  a 
higher  value  upon  the  heritage  which  the  fathers 
handed  down  to  us.  As  we  value  our  inheritance 
surely  we  will  not  forget  the  men  and  women  gone 
before.  We  will  see  that  manhood  is  above  nationality; 
that  the  touch  of  nature  which  makes  all  the  world 


kin  is  above  dogma,  and  that  oneness  with  the  God  of 
the  Universe  is  above  the  artificial  works  of  men.  We 
will  recall  contributions  to  our  American  institutions 
and  our  national  life  by  men  and  women  representing 
many  nations,  speaking  many  languages  and  devoted 
to  many  creeds.  We  will  revere  them  all.  Surely  we 
will  not  forget  the  Dutch.  We  will  respect  and  honor 
English  Puritanism  and,  perhaps  above  all  the  rest, 
we  will  lavish  our  gratitude  upon  those  past-masters 
of  English  Puritanism,  the  sturdy  yet  gentle  men  and 
women,  who  were  Pilgrims  in  the  “Mayflower”  and 
our  National  Forefathers  at  Plymouth 


